Progress report on my riding lessons:

See that fancy knot in the photo? Yes, the one that looks like your favorite old, broken in leather belt that’s meant to last a lifetime. Well, that’s a cinch knot.

Since I’ve been riding, I have been riding two different horses (although my favorite is Buddy!). And as you might recall, from day one, I have been completely hands on with everything from going out and catching a horse, putting a harness on, bringing it in, brushing, putting on the bridle and that ever important saddle.

Saddles are heavy and full of straps and buckles and rings! On that first day, as my instructor was explaining the different components and what they were for, she talked about the front cinch and then the back cinch. As she talked about the back cinch, she commented that it really wasn’t even necessary – but she still showed me how to buckle, and how snug (or not) it should be. In my mind I was thinking – I’m new to to this and I want all the belts and buckles you’ve got. Oh, and if you’ve got any seat belts you can throw one of those on there too. But on the outside, I just smiled nodded and shook my head – pfft, who needs a back cinch, anyway?

And then there’s the knot. Wait, which way does it go? Inside or outside? Is it going to be long enough? Will I be able to get it tight enough? Not to worry! I had it down in no time! And week after week, I’ve been doing just fine, making sure it’s tight enough, giving it a nice tug one last time before stepping into the stirrup and climbing on board.

That is, until last week [insert grimace here]. My riding has progressed from walking, stopping, backing up, big turns, tight turns, to trotting, and we are now working on loping. Boy, do I wish I had learned to do this as a kid. I missed out on a lot of fun! I’m no longer afraid to be around these big animals, which was one of my objectives, and I’m feeling pretty comfortable in the saddle (provided the cinch is nice and tight). Last week, as usual I rode Buddy. However, when we went into the tack room to get all the “stuff”, she had me grab a different saddle. Up to this point, I’d been using the same saddle each time and I was familiar with it and knew jut how tight to pull on the cinch. I pulled out this new saddle and carried it out. It was newer than the one I was used to, and being newer that meant the leather was still pretty stiff. As I got Buddy ready for our ride, I hoisted the saddle up and as I was tying up the front cinch, the strap didn’t seem like it was quite long enough, but I messed with it and eventually got it buckled.

The back cinch. There was no doubt about it – it just wasn’t going to buckle. Maybe Buddy had eaten a big lunch, maybe he was a little bloated, or maybe he was inflating his belly in an effort to avoid having that back cinch buckled too tight. At any rate – remember, “you don’t really need that anyway”. So off it came. I was slightly, just slightly nervous about it but I went with it. After all, she’s the instructor and has been riding her whole life, and I’ve only been at this for a couple of months.

We guided the horses out to the arena and after giving the front cinch one final tug, I climbed up and she adjusted the stirrups for me – and  I will admit that the stirrups on this saddle were a much better fit for me. We warmed up the horses with a short walk, working on turns, figure eights, etc. Then we did some trotting and with another kick and sweet kissing sound, I sank back in the saddle and we were loping. I won’t say I’m completely comfortable with it, but I’m getting there. I still need to work on the transition from loping to stopping without going over the top of the horse!

I didn’t notice until we were just about done that my stirrups didn’t seem to feel quite right. They didn’t feel like they were even, so I mentioned it to my instructor. She took a look and said, “Oh yeah, your saddle is slipping. Try and “scooch” over and get it back to center”. I did my best and it did move back a little, no big deal because we were almost finished anyway. We finished cooling the horses down and talked about how the lesson had gone that day.

I stopped Buddy, and as I was ready to get down, I leaned forward and swung my leg over. As soon as I went to get down, gravity took over, as did the cinch that had loosened up during our ride! As the saddle swung down, so did I. I hit the ground and was lost in a pile of dust! Those of you that know we well know that I immediately got the giggles. Oh my gosh! Poor Buddy! I got up as quickly as I could and tried to unbuckle to get the saddle back up on top. All I could picture in my mind was an old western comedy or a cartoon where the saddle slides under with the rider sitting upside down looking at the underside of a horse! My instructor was so sweet, she was there in a flash asking if I was okay. Only after I brushed myself off and assured her I was fine did she crack a smile.

When my youngest son wanted to play football, I warned him that playing football an getting hurt went hand in hand. We used the term “suck it up” or “rub some dirt on it” frequently! Similarly, I went into this knowing that at some point I would end up on the ground, and thankfully, my first fall was an easy one.

What did I learn that day? Saddles, like boots are best when they are well worn and broken in and I”ll take that back cinch please!